<<April 12, 2005 -- OPRAH Winfrey surprised 100 editorial and advertising staffers of O, The Oprah Magazine, by giving them $5,000 bonuses on Sunday night. The talk show queen, celebrating the fifth anniversary of her vanity mag at the Park Avenue penthouse of Hearst Magazines president Cathie Black, told her grateful underlings: "I figured I would give you five things you could really use." Best of all, the bonuses were tax-free. Winfrey was criticized last year when, after she gave away 276 cars to an audience of her show, the winners discovered they had to fork over $7,000 in taxes to keep their $28,500 Pontiac G-Sixes. >>

<< According to an interview on Good Morning America, it appears that Oprah's tax position is based on treating the payments as gifts within the 11k annual exclusion. But there appears to be no authority for treating the payments as non-taxable gifts rather than as taxable compensation.>>